“Traumatic”: Rashida Jones Just Casually Revealed That She Was Bitten By Michael Jackson’s Pet Chimpanzee Bubbles As A Kid After She “Slapped” It For Stealing Her Hairband
As the daughter of actor Peggy Lipton and legendary music producer Quincy Jones, Parks and Recreation's Rashida Jones had a pretty star-studded childhood.
Not only did she go to the same school as the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, Rashida was surrounded by iconic celebrities at home thanks to her dad’s profession.
In a recent interview with the New Yorker, Rashida revealed that she was “very close” with Frank Sinatra’s granddaughters, and that her godfather Sidney Poitier’s daughters are basically like her “sisters.”
If you didn’t know, Bahamian American actor Sidney was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the first Black person to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Quincy also worked incredibly closely with Michael Jackson at the height of his career, and even produced his infamous 1982 album Thriller.
“I knew those people first as people and then was, like, Oh, that’s interesting. They’re a totally different thing outside of this room,” Rashida explained to the New Yorker. “It took me years and years to really understand how famous those people were.”
The star was then asked about Michael specifically, prompting Rashida to recall a pretty incredible childhood story involving Michael’s pet chimpanzee, Bubbles.
Michael, who died in 2009, famously bought the primate from a Texas research facility in the ‘80s, and would often travel with him.
In 1987, Bubbles joined Michael when he met with the mayor of Osaka, Japan, Yasushi Oshima, on his Bad world tour.
Bubbles lived at Michael’s Neverland Ranch, slept in a crib in the star’s bedroom, and was even trained to use the toilet.
“[Michael] was like a big kid with lots of animals,” Rashida said, with the publication adding that she sighed at this point in the conversation. “Sorry, I was just sighing, because I was just thinking about how I was bit by his monkey.”
“It was my fault,” Rashida continued. “Well, no, it’s not my fault. I am not the one who put a chimpanzee in overalls and a diaper. But I did antagonize him. I was nine. He was in a cage, and he took my hairband out of my hand.”
“Everybody else had left the room, and I was, like: ‘Give it back!’ He was playing with it and wouldn’t give it back to me. So I opened the cage, and he came out,” she remembered. “Then he started running around the room and throwing books. A bit of a nightmare, now that I think about it.”
“I went up to him and was, like: ‘No! No!’ — because I’d seen Michael say ‘No!’ to him. And I slapped him on the head, just a light, little slap. And he took my hand like a sandwich and bit into it,” Rashida concluded. “Traumatic. [Bubbles] is 40 and he lives in Florida now, I think. He’s retired.”
In 2003, Michael revealed that he had been forced to relocate Bubbles after he started to get aggressive.
The chimp, now 41, has been kept at the Center for Great Apes in Florida since 2004.
Elsewhere in her interview, Rashida recalled visiting the set of the “Thriller” music video in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, and acknowledged that the song “changed everything” for her father.
"I remember we went to the set of the video, in Griffith Park. We were reading the storyboards, and right when we got to the part where he turns around and he’s a werewolf, Michael walked into the trailer with those crazy yellow eyes," she said. "Very scary! It changed everything for my dad."
“I remember watching the Grammys at home, and he won every single Grammy,” Rashida added. “I had so many ‘Thriller’ T-shirts and memorabilia. I don’t think I have any of that anymore. That’s really sad.”
Rashida Jones Has Spoken Out On Why She Quit "Toy Story 4," And It Wasn't Because Of John LasseterBrian Galindo · Nov. 22, 2017
Quincy Jones Gave A Really, Really Candid Interview And It's...A Lot To ProcessMichael Blackmon · Feb. 7, 2018
From Twiggy Turning The Tables On Woody Allen To Lady Gaga’s Nonchalance Towards Rumors That She Has A Penis, Here Are 10 Times Celebrities Left Their Interviewers "Gagged"Stephanie Soteriou · Jan. 4, 2024
